ANAHEIM, California -- Participants from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Ministries of Defense from 23 nations and multinational organizations convened in Anaheim, California, Sept. 11-15, for the Nimble Titan 18 Planning Event, the second event of the Nimble Titan 18 Campaign.

Nimble Titan is an unclassified, multinational, missile defense series of experiments sponsored by U.S. Strategic Command and led by the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense. Through Nimble Titan, policy and military experts explore potential policies and operational constructs necessary to enable future cooperative missile defense. The campaign serves as a forum for multinational collaboration to facilitate the exchange of ideas. The objective is, through experimentation, to expand international relationships, enhance regional missile defense, and strengthen deterrence.

The JFCC IMD director of Plans, Policy, and Allied Integration, Col. Tom Hancock, emphasized the importance of the nations and organizations coming together in cooperation. "More than ever, it will take a combined and joint effort from many nations working together to deter and counter the evolving missile threat."

Col. Roman Krause, commander of the Competence Centre Surface Based Air and Missile Defence (CC SBAMD), a combined German and Netherlands missile defense organization, talked about the need for missile defense and the cooperation of Nimble Titan.

"If Nimble Titan had not been invented, the most current developments in missile proliferation would certainly urge us, as NATO members and like-minded nations, to come up with such an outstanding event that allows for exploration of nations' approaches to commonly tackling the most demanding IAMD challenges," he said.

The solutions developed at the Planning Event shape real-world missile defense policies, programs and capabilities. Planning has already begun for the next Nimble Titan event, which will continue to expand on the accomplishments during this event and previous campaigns.